Kido Frozen Foods to debut 56 million shares on UpCom
Kido Frozen Foods, a KIDO Corporation subsidiary, has been approved by Vietnam Security Depository (VSD) to debut 56 million shares on the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX)’s UpCom trading platform under the code KDF, according to information published on VSD’s website.
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Previously, KIDO Corporation (KDC) planned to list KDF on UpCom in the second quarter of 2017 after the completion of its initial public offering (IPO) in April. Notably, KDF put 11.2 million shares, equaling 20% of the company’s chartered capital, at the initial price of VND52,000 ($2.3).
The IPO received attention from a lot of multinational investors. Many investors expressed willingness to purchase KDF’s shares at VND60,000 ($2.6) apiece, higher than the corporation’s offering price.
A Malaysian investment fund wanted to buy 100 per cent of KDF for $200 million. In addition, a Japanese company also expressed intention to buy 35 per cent of KDF for VND60,000 ($2.6) a share, a much higher price than the expected listing price of VND52,000 ($2.3).
However, Tran Le Nguyen, deputy chairman of mother company KDC said that the IPO’s target is to attract more individual and institutional investors, so they did not accept the above offers. After the IPO, KDC will only hold 65% of KDF’s chartered capital.
KDF’s listing on UpCom is expected to attract both domestic and foreign investors due to its development potential.
Notably, KDF has become the leader of the Vietnamese ice cream industry with a 35% market share in 2016 with its flagship brands Merino and Celano, which take up 19 and 13%, respectively.
Besides, in 2016, KDF started expanding its frozen food manufacturing facilities, which is considered a lucrative sector with the increasing of four-fold in the scale of the frozen food supply chain in Vietnam for the past decade.
KDF was founded in July, 2003, as a product of KDC’s acquisition of Wall's from Unilever. Following this, the KDF has inherited the international-standard ice cream manufacturing system, including the most modern ice cream factory in Southeast Asia.
KDF owns two factories, namely Cu Chi ice cream factory and Bac Ninh frozen food factory with a total designed capacity of 50 million litres per year, including 25-25 million litres of ice cream and yogurt per year.
KDF’s exponential growth in recent years is expected to attract investors. In 2016, KDF's revenue reached $61.28 million, an increase of 31% on-year. Its before- and after-tax profits reached $7.72 and $6.27 million, signifying increases of 77 and 85%, respectively.
